The storyteller makes no choice
soon you will not hear his voice
his job is to shed light
and not to master,
Hunter/Garcia Terrapin Station
I first became interested in things which just did not fit into my real world experience when I discovered, whilst quite young, that the weather forecast was not always correct in it's predictions. In Britain, talking about the weather as per Kate Fox, is an entry into conversation between strangers.
My passion was science and in particular, Astronomy, and I found the history of the subject fascinating.
Jump ahead a few years and I read for my first degree, in Economics. I found that the subject, based on the concept of rationality, did not match the facts and I found it hard to agree with Milton Friedman about the realism of models when the main purpose was predictability. I was skeptical too, of the economists claims to have some insight into policy either in terms of the National Plan, or the imposition of taxes such as sin taxes. My skepticism was not supported by the intellectual tools in my arsenal until a paper by Hayek entitled "The Use of Knowledge in Society" alerted me to a new way of thinking about economics which caused me to rethink my notion of economics as science into one of process. Going back to first principles of Adam Smith and before, I became more uncomfortable about contemporary economics and in particular the notion of equilibrium. Reading Adam Ferguson led me to rethink again about so-called economic actors and the notion of spontaneous orders.
A television show in Britain on Chaos and Anti-Chaos, prompted me to investigate further. Partly due to Geoff Hodgson's works on institutionalism and reading Darwin as well as behaviouralist authors I came across ideas of Gaia and thence to Chaos by Gleick. Almost to the present when I settled down to read this wonderful book, little did I realize this at the time.
The title is a bit of a misnomer as it really is about the establishment of an interdisciplinary research centre called the Santa Fe Institute, appropriately based in that city in New Mexico. The author combines fascinating stories of how the people came together to create such a unique body each being motivated by ideas, not necessarily recognized as aspects on complexity as such, which did not fit the mould that they were trying to be forced into.
The book is a toure de force on how these individuals pursued their ideas, thinking the unthinkable, talking to others who were like minded, being able to get in touch with specialists in disciplines who recognized that these people would perhaps be the ones to break the mould.
The stories of enthusiasm, determination, persistence of the individuals and finding the ability to speak across the divide of disciplines and recognize that their subject areas could be examined using methodologies which were similar and which undermined a lot of traditional ways of thinking about problems, are highly infectious. Almost an intellectual equivalent of bodice-rippers in romance novels. Similarly the book is fast paced in demonstrating how these avenues of study have opened up a veritable panorama of research programmes which are leading to fruitful outcomes.
I have been unhappy for years with the whole notion of economic forecasts and financial analysts forecasts, which when wrong (often) do not lead to unemployment. Similarly, I question the notion of rational human beings, meaning men, when consumers are women by a significant margin who use different criteria in any marketplace. The failure of prediction over the centuries has caused a lot of human misery and will probably cause more. I must concur with one notion in this book that economics should be more of a discipline seeking understanding of real economies.
Complexity shows how things change, how they evolve by what economic professionals call exogenous shocks which cannot be predicted by their modeling. Humans are affected by feelings, the weather and a host of other things which cannot be modeled or quantifies. This introduction to fascinating new ways in which to view the world has a lot of explanatory power in so many areas. It really is an outstanding work which I am going to reread almost immediately.
It is a long time since reading one book has generated so much enthusiasm for further study and rereading older works through new lenses. My only regret is that I never found it earlier.
To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour.
William Blake.
Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos
4.4 | 614 ratings
Price: 4.99
Last update: 11-17-2024
About this item
Top reviews from the United States
Junglies
The Real HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2015
Louis W.
good read overall
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2024
Joshua G. Feldman
A superb account of the emergence of the science of Emergent Complexity.
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2008
Val
Excellent book
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2024Hewster
Interesting, but dated
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2024jasonmmiller
A history of the science
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2024